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Bloomberg Línea — Lionel Messi will land in the United States to join the Inter Miami squad, the Major League Soccer (MLS) team that was created in 2018 and debuted two years later.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/CKM6BVARG5BBPJWX4I66M5LGOY.jpeg "Messi to Join Inter Miami, Turning Down Lucrative Saudi Offer")
Behind the efforts to achieve this signing are the multimillionaires Jorge and José Mas, owners of the Inter Miami franchise and whose main partner is English soccer star David Beckham, who is also co-owner and president of soccer operations of the team.
Jorge and José Mas inherited the fortune of their father, Jorge Mas Canosa, a Cuban-born businessman who built his empire in the United States and who, at a political level, was recognized as one of the most important anti-Castro Cuban activists in exile, according to US media reports.
With this signing, Messi turned his back on the possibility of returning to FC Barcelona or joining Saudi team Al Hilal, one of the most powerful clubs in the Gulf kingdom, where he was reported to have been offered up to $400 million a year, once he leaves his current team, Paris Saint-Germain, as his contract expires.
Who are the owners of Inter Miami?
Jorge Mas Canosa was the founder of MasTec, a company specialized in fiber optic cable network installations. In 1996, he also bought Sintel from Telefónica España. As of June 7, Mastec had a market capitalization of US$ 8,62 billion, according to Bloomberg.
This is how Jorge and José Mas Santos came to lead their father’s companies, with Jorge Mas taking the reins of MasTec, owning 14,41% of the company (around US$ 1.24 billion), which is headquartered in Miami and has expanded in Latin America through Sintel. The company now articulates infrastructure construction and also operates in the energy sector.
Jorge Mas is listed as manager-owner of Inter Miami and his brother, Jose Mas, as owner of the club.
After Inter Miami’s debut in the MLS, in July 2019 the club announced its first international signings, Argentines Matias Pellegrini and Julian Carranza. The Argentine players are key capital for the club, joining Gonzalo ‘El Pipa’ Higuaín and his brother Federico, who is the club’s top scorer with 29 goals in 70 games.
But the history of the Mas brothers in soccer is more extensive, as they have a stake in Botafogo of the Brazilian first division and, in 2022, together with other investors, became owner and president of Real Zaragoza of Spain.
According to The Athletic, for Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami, Mas personally handled the negotiation during his recent visit to Spain, and Messi was also offered a profit-sharing agreement with Adidas and Apple.
Apple and MLS signed an agreement to broadcast MLS matches through the Apple TV+ platform, and Messi’s arrival could strengthen this deal, reportedly worth $2.5 billion for 10 years, according to the companies involved.
What is David Beckham’s net worth?
Beckham, 48, who has played for Manchester United and Real Madrid, has a net worth of $450 million, according to specialized portal Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2007, he began his incursion in MLS and signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy, becoming the highest paid player in the league at the time.
The English player is the brainchild of Miami International Soccer Club (Inter Miami), exercising in 2014 the option to buy an MLS team, an agreement that was part of his contract with Los Angeles Galaxy, and after managing with his business group the construction of a stadium with a capacity for 20,000 people, investing $250 million, according to the same portal.
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